The present invention is directed to portable sheet bending brakes of the type having one or more track features for guiding a mechanism to cut sheet material clamped in the brake, and more particularly to a gauge for locating the edge of the sheet material with respect to the brake for accurate bending by the brake or cutting by the cut-off mechanism.
Portable sheet bending brakes generally include a support frame with a plurality of C-shaped frame sections. An elongated base member is mounted on the lower arms of the frame sections to form a clamp surface, and an elongated anvil member is mounted on bars pivotally secured to the upper arms of the frame sections for clamping sheet material against the clamp surface on the base member. A bend member is pivotally mounted to the base member for bending over an edge of the anvil member sheet material clamped between the anvil member and the base member. The anvil member is provided with one or more longitudinally extending track features for guiding a manual cutter mechanism along the anvil member so as to slice strips of material from sheet stock clamped between the anvil and base members. A general object of the present invention is to provide a gauge for accurately locating the sheet material prior to a bending or cutting operation.
It has been proposed to provide an indexing mechanism between C-shaped members of the bending brake, that is on the back side of the base and anvil members with reference to the front side of the brake at which bending occurs. These index mechanisms are expensive, are difficult to adjust in the field, and are not as accurate as desired. Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a bend/cut-off gauge for a portable sheet bending brake that is employed on the front or working side of the brake, that is inexpensive, that is easy to use, and that provides an accurate and direct measure of the width of the strip material that is to be bent or severed.
A bend/cut-off gauge in accordance with an exemplary but presently preferred embodiment of the invention includes a hanger having a first portion adapted to engage at least one track feature on the anvil member of a sheet bending brake, and a second portion extending from the first portion so as to be cantilevered from the anvil member adjacent to the sheet material clamp surface on the base member of the brake. An abutment stop is disposed on the second portion of the hanger for engagement by an edge of sheet material resting on the clamp surface. The width of the sheet material between the edge of the anvil member and the abutment stop is thus accurately gauged. The gauge may then be removed from the anvil member, and the bend member operated to bend an accurately gauged strip of material over the anvil member, or the cutter mechanism operated along the track feature(s) on the anvil member to sever an accurately gauged strip of material from the sheet stock clamped between the anvil member and the base member.